The Road to the White House Starts in Nevada

The road to the White House starts in Nevada. And tomorrow, in Carson City, AFSCME is proud to start the engine. Eight Democratic presidential candidates will meet for the first time -- with more than 700 AFSCME members -- to answer questions of concern to the overwhelming majority of Americans:

Do they support affordable health care for all?

What will they do to strengthen retirement security by protecting - not privatizing - Social Security?

How will they build America's struggling middle class?

Who will support a vibrant public sector, which provides the vital services that keep our families safe and make our communities strong?

And, as Commander in Chief, who among the Democratic candidates will support our troops by ending this Republican war of folly and lies?

Moderated by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Senator Dodd, Senator Clinton, Governor Vilsack, Senator Edwards, Governor Richardson, Senator Biden, Rep. Kucinich and Senator Gravel will answer these and other questions.

So why Nevada? Simply put, we need the West to win -- Democratic Party leaders and activists are right to pursue a strategy that brings the Mountain West into the Democratic fold.

We already have quite a foothold. Democrats now hold governorships in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana. Two of the Democrats' biggest wins in 2006 were the Montana Senate race and the Colorado gubernatorial race. And the DNC will hold its 2008 Convention in Denver.

However, none of these states, save New Mexico in 2000, voted Democratic in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. In 2008 presidential politics, the story of "how the West was won" will be the story of "how the West Wing was won" by the Democrats -- and the activists who do the hard work that wins hard-fought campaigns.